To Margit Szabo and her lumpy headed ferret:
 
This may not be the answer you are looking for nor does it have a happy
ending.  Keep in mind that this is only a possibility and may not be what
your ferret has.
 
Has your ferret been x-rayed - for that would be my first question.  The
only thing that I can think of at this point in time is that the lump may be
a form of cancer.  I had a ferret named Vincent, as in Van Gogh, (so named
because of him missing ear cartilage on one side due to his mother eating it
off).  He was our first baby and I will never forget him.  When he was 6 we
noticed a small hard lump on the top of his spine.  An x-ray revealed that
the lump was growing as it was starting to take the bone in the ribs
directly adjacent to it with it.  The placement of the lump was inoperable
and so we had to sit back and watch our beautiful boy die.
 
He was a fighter and stayed with us for 2 more years while I, ever so
vigilant, watched for signs that his time was coming near.  By the time the
lump finally took him it had grown to the size of a small walnut.  But up
until that time he played and behaved as any happy ferret should be allowed
to.  Progressively though, the cancer had made him tire more easily and he
rested alot more often.  His last day happened so fast - one minute he was
running around with his three other buddies and the next he was on his side
and panting, barely able to move his legs.  As I rushed him to the vet I
knew this would be the last day for my beloved baby.  He showed me true
courage and I can only honour him in my heart.
 
My biggest question in all of this was how did he get something like this?
It seems that I may have been the blame for his early demise.  When he was
about 2 years old, he was running about with his bud Hobbes, and somewhere
in amongst ferret mayhem I stepped back on top of him.  Now, because of my
experience with cats being under foot, the moment my foot touches fur, my
foot goes up.  Unfortunately the size difference is enough that the small
amount of weight I did put on him must have cause a small hairline crack in
his spine.  I never knew I did anything as his play and behaviour from that
day never altered.  It was only when the vet said, that from looking at the
site of the lump it looked like it had come from a previous injury.  For all
intensive purposes this little guy was very healthy and had only suffered
from an occasional cold.  It took me awhile to realize what I had done.
Although I know in my heart that it was an accident I never want to be the
cause of any living creatures suffering.  I feel like I paid the ultimate
price.
 
Although it's been 5 years since Vincent crossed the Bridge, and my ferret
shuffle is well beyond experience, I still feel him with me.  There is a
drawing of him that was done in his honour that will always remind me of
what a sweet boy he was.
 
Betty and her Blur O'Fur
[Posted in FML issue 2357]